Path: utzoo!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!cs.utexas.edu!wuarchive!zaphod.mps.ohio-state.edu!pacific.mps.ohio-state.edu!linac!att!cbfsb!cbnewsc!cbnews!cbnews!military From: bcstec!shuksan!major@uunet.UU.NET (Mike Schmitt) Newsgroups: sci.military Subject: Re: Small Arms Message-ID: <1991Mar6.042823.25637@cbnews.att.com> Date: 6 Mar 91 04:28:23 GMT References: <1991Mar4.212601.9682@cbnews.att.com> Sender: military@cbnews.att.com (william.b.thacker) Organization: The Boeing Co., MMST, Seattle, Wa. Lines: 70 Approved: military@att.att.com From: bcstec!shuksan!major@uunet.UU.NET (Mike Schmitt) > From: scott@swindle.Berkeley.EDU (Scott Silvey) >I've noticed a few of the men in every squad are equiped with a grenade laucher >mounted under the barrel of their M16. Would someone mind describing this >weapon and it's uses in detail? For example, what is it's range, and what >types of rounds can it fire? Is it normally loaded all the time? Does the >grenade have a fairly flat trajectory, or is it lobbed like a short range >mortar? How do they determine who gets to use one? Does it increase the >weight of the rifle so that it becomes more unwieldly? That's the M203 Rifle/Grenade Lchr. The basic use is to provide a means to 'toss' hand grenades further than a man can toss one. The round is a 40mm fragmentary grenade; High Explosive Dual Purpose can penetrate 2 inches of armor plate and is used against light vehicles and troops. CS contains tear gas. White Star Parachute Flare for illumination and signaling. Star Cluster (red, white, green) for signalling. Smoke (red, yellow, green) for signalling. Effective range is 400 meters. The HE round has a 5m bursting radius. The basic load for a Grenadier is 140 rounds of 40mm, and 36 rounds of M16 ammo. Most Grenadiers do not move around with the launcher loaded - but chamber a round as necessary. "Lock and load" is an order from the Squad Leader - not given unitl you cross the LD. the launcher 'lobs' the grenade to the target, more like a mortar than flat trajectory. The launcher itself is a single shot, breech-loaded, pump-action. It's used to suppress and/or neutralize targets that are in dead spaces of grazing fire weapons (from my squad leader's handbook). Weight of the M203 is 11 pounds as compared to a M16 at 8 pounds. The M60 MG weighs 44 pounds. By TO&E a mech inf squad has two M203 grenade launchers (GL). An 11-man full strength squad (full strength is rare) consists of a Carrier Team (remain with the Bradley IFV) and a Manuever Team (on the ground, guys, hit it!). Manuever Team: Carrier Team: Squad Leader M16 Team Leader/Gunner 30mm gun Machine Gunner M60 Driver M2 .50 grease gun Team Leader M16 TOW Gunner TOW ATGM Grenadier M203 Machine Gunner M60 Grenadier M203 Rifleman M16 Rifleman M16 By comparison, a soviet-stype BMP squad consists of: Motorized Rifle Squad: Vehicle Crew: Squad Leader AKMS Commander AKMS Machine Gunner PK Gunner 23mm/AT-4 Machine Gunner PK Driver Pistol Rifleman AKMS Rifleman AKMS Rifleman AKMS Rifleman AKMS AT Gunner RPG-7 In non-infantry TO&Es the mix of M203 per M16 is based on Standard Tables of Allowances, ie, for every 10 M16s you get one M203. Yes, it's heavy. But the soldiers that carry it and use it - like it. (Everyone wants to carry a pistol in peacetime - but let the shooting begin and everybody grabs for a rifle.) mike schmitt